Acer 8-inch Windows 8 tablet in the works

Acer's Windows 8 tablet plans have leaked in the form of the 8-inch Iconia W3. The as yet unreleased tablet could be the first of the new lower screen size and resolution devices running Windows 8 after Microsoft relaxed its hardware requirements for the operating system.

Microsoft lowered minimum screen resolution from 1366 x 768 to 1024 x 768 earlier this year, paving the way for cheaper and smaller Windows 8 tablets. The Iconia W3 is likely one of the one of them and would be the first affordable Windows 8 device using an 8-inch screen.

This affordability is further bolstered by the rumour that the tablet will be running a 1.8GHz Intel Atom Z2760 processor and 2GB of RAM, putting it toward the mid-end of the Windows 8 power spectrum. Interestingly, it is reportedly running Windows 8 Pro, rather than the stripped back Windows RT. This would put the Acer tablet right in line with the likes of the Surface Pro, although Acer's offering could be cheaper.

Accessories for the W3 include a keyboard dock and likely more, although the original leaked pictures which were posted on tech website Minimachines, have now been removed. We will have more on the Iconia W3 the moment Acer tells us anything.